Question about Wicks and Soot/Black Smoke

[CandleCouture]

Of the following wick types, which would you say produce the LEAST amount of soot, in order?

Cotton Core

Eco

HTP

LX

[AngelaVA]

Depends on your wax and FO. Just need to test for yourself

[CandleCouture]

I have been, and will continue to, however, I was asking for your opinions and experiences. The wicks mentioned are the ones that I have and have tested. There is another one that I've tested, that I've now ruled out completely (the 700 Premier series from wickit).

[CandleCouture]

To answer your other question, I'm using Greenleaf's 70/30 soy/par blend.

[AngelaVA]

I haven't tested all of those wicks in that wax. However, I did test an Eco wick in a jelly jar and only got a little soot after some serious marathon burning.

[Suzanne]

I have been, and will continue to, however, I was asking for your opinions and experiences. The wicks mentioned are the ones that I have and have tested. There is another one that I've tested, that I've now ruled out completely (the 700 Premier series from wickit).

Did you try wicking down? What size premier wick did you try and what size was your jar? How long did you burn? How much FO did you use? I'm really curious because I'm having luck with these wicks so far.

[CandleCouture]

There's another thread here on those wicks that I posted to. Impossible to wick down, as the melt pool wasn't quite reaching the edges, even with what I had. Too much hangup had I wicked down. Alot of other people have commented on burning smells and crackling. By the way, these wicks sooted a ton even in their small sizes, when I double wicked.

I wanted to like them alot but I just didn't have any luck with them at all.

[Suzanne]

There's another thread here on those wicks that I posted to. Impossible to wick down, as the melt pool wasn't quite reaching the edges, even with what I had. Too much hangup had I wicked down. Alot of other people have commented on burning smells and crackling. By the way, these wicks sooted a ton even in their small sizes, when I double wicked.

I wanted to like them alot but I just didn't have any luck with them at all.

Do you know what batch of GL 70/30 you are using?

[CandleCouture]

Not the bad one (which was number two). I'm using either the third or fourth (don't remember what Brenda told me).

[Henryk]

I've been watching some of your posts over at GL and here to see if anything comes of them. In pulling info from your posts there, and here, have you tried any other wicks in the 70/30 besides the Premiers?

I've not tried the 70/30 yet (but will). I can tell you that the two paraffin/soy blends I tried, both were real fussy about wicks, and if you had the wrong one, they would blacken your jar sides. Though I've seen pics of 70/30 jars with zero soot, and other jars that I personally think have too much soot - so I'll just have to test on my own. (Frankly any soot on the jar is too much for me). I would try LXs. I find them to be the least problematic, all things considered, for soy and soy blends (at least for the few I've tried over the years).

Here's a thought, have you tried pouring the 70/30 without ANY FOs at all? You may need to wick up since it will be harder to burn without any FO at all, but it will isolate with some testing whether it is the wick/wax combination by getting rid of a variable (FO).

From my understanding, Batch #4 is the magic number btw.

Last thing I would try is backing down from 10% on your FO. (I looked at the jar you are using and I don't see why that should be the problem).

[CandleCouture]

I've tried Cotton Core and Eco Wicks. Neither of which demonstrated any sooting at all, to be honest.

[mizbizzyb]

I have been successful so far in my testing with greenleaf and premier wicks. no soot.